Insurance Runs Out For Father Of 8 Hospitalized With Aneurysm

BOLINGBROOK, IL — A few months ago, on May 10, Bolingbrook resident Mark Carlson collapsed with chest pain and was taken to a local hospital, later to be diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm with dissection — a tear in the main artery carrying blood out of the heart. Several months — and several "miracles" — later, he's still in the hospital, but his wife, Victoria, is fighting for him.

"Our lives are forever changed, nothing will every be the same ... but he's here and he's alive," she told Patch. "And you know what, I'm so grateful for that."

Insurance isn't covering his hospital stay anymore, preferring to put him in a nursing home, but doctors kept him in acute rehab at the hospital, Victoria said, knowing he needed to be there. To help, their son started a GoFundMe campaign to help with the costs. The money, she said, will also go toward making the house handicap accessible once he's out of the hospital, among other things.

Mark, 53, has lived in Bolingbrook with Victoria since 1996. The couple has been married for 30 years, and they have eight children together.

"We're best friends," Victoria said. "We keep each other laughing."

Mark has gone through multiple tragedies over the last few months, many of which were life-threatening, Victoria said. But through much of it, he's kept up good spirits and fought hard.

"It's been absolutely crazy and every doctor has said it's a miracle he's alive," Victoria said. "Everything he's had happen to him [should have been] fatal."

In a coma at the time, Mark was scheduled for an above-knee amputation. Victoria said she begged and fought doctors not to go through with the surgery since Mark had told her — both of them having seen the affects amputations on their parents — he "would rather drag my leg than have no leg. The worst thing would be to lose a limb."

In the end, she said one vascular surgeon found tissue forming, meaning they could save his leg for the time being.

"The leg is paralyzed, but he has his leg," she said. "I didn't know tissue could grow back, so he will go through intensive physical therapy, but we don't know if he'll ever regain function of the leg. ... But it's there, that's a miracle."

Mark also spent five weeks in a coma when his kidney failed, and Victoria said he was getting dialysis every day during that time. She even wanted to give him her kidney to save him — one of her sons would have too — but after five weeks, she said, "out of nowhere, his kidney started working."

"I would get a little bit of good news about my husband and then get worse news the next day," she said. "It was one step forward, two steps back."

Over the years, Mark — who has "always been a musician" — performed as Gene Simmons in a KISS cover band. He's also a handyman who has done many of the repairs on the family's house.

"He's such a funny guy," Victoria said. "To know him is to love him. ... He's got such a quick wit, he's so funny that even the [doctors at the hospital] he's at said he's a riot."

Through it all, Victoria said, it's been her job to help Mark.

"He's got a long way to go, a long way to recovery," she said.

GoFundMe is a Patch promotional partner.

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